You are browsing the archive for 2011 February.

INDEPENDENCE — Cavaliers power forward Antawn Jamison could be done for the season.
The Cavs announced Monday evening that the fractured little finger on Jamison’s left hand will require surgery and he’s expected to be out five to seven weeks. There are slightly more than six weeks left in the regular season.
Jamison, Cleveland’s leading scorer [...]

ASHLAND — Several roads in Medina County are closed because of flooding caused by rainfall Sunday night into today and melting snow.
The Ohio Department of Transportation’s District 3 announced at 2 p.m. the roads are closed for the safety of motorists. Affected roads are:
• U.S. Route 42 between Fenn and Remsen roads in Medina Township.
• [...]

We asked readers how they help their kids stay in bed after lights out, and here are some suggestions we got.

Craft a compromise

We made a deal with our 6-year-old son, Tate. If he lies quietly in bed for 15 minutes, we’ll come back in and check on him. If he’s still awake at that point, he can get up for a little while longer, usually 20 minutes or so. Not only is he willing to lie in bed for the entire time, he’s almost never awake when we check back. — Dawn McCormick Plano, Texas

Give them a pass

When our daughter, Caylin, was younger, we made her a Get Out of Bed Free card, which we laminated and placed on her nightstand. Caylin was allowed to use the card once a week — but only once. She always thought carefully about using the card! — Angela McNaul Palmyra, Va.

Award rewards

Every night, I check in on my 8-year-old twins an hour after tuck-in. Whoever’s asleep earns a point next to his or her name on a bedtime chart I made. At the end of the week, anyone who’s earned at least three points gets to stay up an hour past bedtime on Friday and Saturday. Now the kids actually look forward to bedtime. — Renee Cannon Atlanta, GA

A two-mile stretch of Laguna Boulevard near Interstate 5 in Sacramento, Calif., boasts not one, but two cavernous and hulking chain fitness centers — perhaps a counterweight to the gauntlet of fast-food joints dotting the roadside.

Peer into the tinted windows and see the gleaming rows of elliptical machines lined up like so many sentinels. Check out the state-of-the-art weight rooms, the juice bars, the perky receptionists handing out towels and fatuous compliments. Take a gander at the habitues, pumped and preening.

Now, forget about all that.

Let’s head a little farther down Laguna to the rear of a nondescript Elk Grove, Calif., shopping center anchored by a Walgreens. By day, Suite 120 is a day-care center, replete with a colorful carpet that spells out the alphabet, mobiles hung in squares and rectangles, and cubbies overflowing with youthful artwork.

It is here that two nights a week, amid the scattered plastic dinosaurs and the fluffy bunny rustling in a cage, a small but enthusiastic band of women gathers to work on bodies and friendships in equal measure.

This is the Moms in Motion “strength, core and more” conditioning group, and it’s about as far from the glitzy, sterile sameness of chain fitness centers as one can imagine.

“It’s not like the gym,” said member Marguerite Ash, “where you don’t even know who’s working out next to you. There is support here.”

They come bearing yoga mats, wearing multihued, flowered singlets and, most important, flashing broad smiles. None of those grim, monotonous “reps and sets” for these women. More likely to pump irony than iron, they sweat and huff through an hour’s workout using the barest of props: a weighted bar and elastic bands and, primarily, their own body weight.

Sure, they’d love to have Michelle Obama triceps and rock-hard abs and whatever, but hey, they aren’t going to sacrifice the chance for a good time socializing.

“We are a fitness group first, but we chitchat, too,” said Wendy Hoag, who leads the Elk Grove/Sacramento “team” for Moms In Motion, a national organization in 106 cities whose mission is “connecting moms through fitness, fun and philanthropy.”

Unlike, for example, Curves, which franchises so-called boutique health clubs, Moms in Motion is more loosely affiliated, encouraging each “team” to find its own niche and venue. All teams, however, are required to raise money for charity. (The Elk Grove group raises funds to combat childhood obesity and will volunteer for the Nutrition Fuels Fitness 5K run on March 27 in Elk Grove.)

In Elk Grove, Hoag not only teaches the strength-and-core group but also a twice-weekly running-walking club. She takes her job seriously but approaches it as a social director as much as a fitness instructor.

One recent night, Hoag cued the fun music (”Kung Fu Fighting,” anyone?) and put the women through their paces with a series of exercises that engaged their core muscles — the rectus and transversus abdominis, the obliques, hip flexors and the all-important latissimus dorsi — along with a nod to the glutes, hamstrings and arms.

She can be a taskmaster, but a benign one. Nary a negative word issued from her lips all session. At most, she’d gingerly adjust a woman’s leg extension in the plank position and gently instruct, “Hold that navel to the spine and exhale, breathe.”

Late in the hour, when fatigue set in and the women were engaged in a spinal stretch, she noticed their heads were tilted downward, chins near the chest.

“Remember, you got a diamond necklace for your birthday and you’ve got to show it off,” Hoag said and, as if synchronized, all heads snapped back, looking upward. The women could barely suppress giggles.

The brilliance of Moms in Motion, Hoag said, is that thanks to the camaraderie, the women get a solid workout almost without realizing it. There is no rule, after all, that fitness has to hurt. For these women, the slogan could well be: minimal pain, lots of gain.

“I tried fitness centers,” said Alina Sander, a middle school teacher and the mother of a 4-year-old. “It didn’t work for me at all. It was too anonymous. Wendy’s really inspiring to me. Fitness is a lifestyle to her, and that’s what I want as a goal. I want to be a model to my kid and be healthy.

“(Two years ago) I didn’t exercise at all. And then the whole gym thing didn’t work. I thought I’d try again with this. I’m absolutely in better shape. Before, I couldn’t run a mile. Now I run three.”

The key, said Ash, is accountability.

“I know I have somewhere to be on a certain day at a certain time with people I want to be with,” she said.

If you skip a workout at a large health club, Hoag said, no one will notice. Miss a Moms in Motion night, and the other half-dozen to a dozen women take note.

“Honestly,” she said, “when I see what really brings them back week after week, it’s the accountability on the fitness part. Not only from me but from their teammates. But that’s the fun and social part, too. They cheer them on when they do well and help them out when they have other issues.”

Women need a social aspect to exercise, she said. A Dads in Motion group might be a harder sell.

“Men tend to reach out to each other in competition, whereas women reach out to relate to each other,” Hoag said. “That really helps in sticking with your fitness and pushing that extra mile.”

The sociability extends beyond the workout area. Hoag said the women occasionally meet socially and invite speakers to address their group on domestic issues, “whether it’s legal planning for your family or whether you should have your dryer vent cleaned.”

This melding of purpose is what drew Jaime Silvano, a mother with three children age 7 or younger who works full time.

“I actually joined Moms in Motion because I wanted some friends,” she said, smiling. “Being a mom is really isolating. I need it. It makes me calmer. I deal with stress better and I get a social life at the same time.”

The hourlong workout over, the women rolled up their mats and lingered. They chatted for a good 10 minutes until somebody realized the time and they went back to their busy, complicated lives. Until the next time they can manage to get away.

“A woman,” Hoag said, “really has to carve out some time for herself.”

CLEVELAND — The Cavaliers have cured their allergy to winning. Their next step is to figure out a way to develop a winning streak.
For the seventh straight time dating all the way back to Nov. 16, Cleveland lost when it had a chance to win two games in a row, falling 95-91 to the Philadelphia [...]

I don’t know if you guys knew this or not, but the NFL Combine is going on, and somebody named Cam Newton fully participated. He completed about 50% of his passes with no defense, but he’s like totally good guys.

So let me get this straight…this doesn’t matter to anyone? Everybody seems to be writing this off. Call me old fashioned, but I’d like my potential franchise quarterback to complete a little more than 50% of his passes. Especially with nobody trying to stop him.

The Knicks lost to the Cavs Friday night, then beat the Heat in Miami yesterday. LeBron has now missed big threes at the end of the games in two out of the last three.

Carmelo Anthony guarded LeBron down the stretch yesterday, and he’s getting tons of praise from the media for actually playing some defense. Does this irritate anybody else? Last time I checked, defense was half the game. Playing good defense should be expected.

Did you guys see Charlie Sheen this morning? He says he is in fact still on drugs, and that drug is “Charlie Sheen”. You can’t do it though, because “you will die” and your “face will melt off”. Somebody get this guy more drugs, because he’s hilarious.

INDIANAPOLIS — LSU’s Patrick Peterson is considered the top cornerback in the NFL Draft. He’s likely to be a top-five pick in April. (If he isn’t, the Browns could very well snatch him at No. 6.) He won the Thorpe and Bednarik awards as the nation’s top defensive back and overall defensive player.
Peterson was born [...]

CLEVELAND, OH— The Cleveland Indians announced the launch of their Spanish-language Spring Training webpages on indians.com, which can be found at indians.com/boletos. Indians Spring Training leads off on Sunday, February 27 against the Cincinnati Reds at 1:05PM (MST) at Goodyear Ballpark in Goodyear, Arizona.

In conjunction with Major League Advanced Media (MLBAM), the Cleveland Indians created this Spanish only webpage to increase the accessibility and ease of use for our ever-growing baseball fan base. These pages feature all Indians Spring Training information, including news stories, Goodyear Ballpark details, ticket information and even the ability to purchase tickets in Spanish.

“Indians.com is a great source of information and news regarding all things Cleveland Indians. We are very excited to expand this resource to engage our Spanish-speaking fans in Cleveland, Arizona and all over the world that are seeking Indians information during 2011 Spring Training,” said Ryan Lantz, Manager of Arizona Operations.

Indians.com features a link under the Ticketing Section that routes fans directly to indians.com/boletos.

INDIANAPOLIS – Eight Louisiana State University Tigers are at the NFL scouting combine. That says a lot about the talent compiled by coach Les Miles, an Elyria High graduate and Elyria Sports Hall of Famer.
His former players had plenty to say about him throughout the weekend.
“Coach Miles, he’s a winner,” running back Stevan Ridley said. [...]